Execution of application in a container within a scope of user-granted permission

ABSTRACT

Executing an application in a container within a scope of user-granted permission in a decentralized network that implements a distributed edger. Receiving a request from an entity for using data stored in a data storage that is associated with a DID as one or more inputs of an application associated with the entity to generate one or more results. One or more characteristics of the application is identified. Based on the identified characteristics, a scope of permission to use the requested data is determined. Next, the scope of permission is granted to a container where the application is stored or is to be stored. The application is then executed in the container using the data within the granted scope of permission as input to generate one or more results.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Most of currently used documents or records that prove identity areissued by centralized organizations, such as governments, schools,employers, or other service centers or regulatory organizations. Theseorganizations often maintain every member's identity in a centralizedidentity management system. A centralized identity management system isa centralized information system used for organizations to manage theissued identities, their authentication, authorization, roles andprivileges. Centralized identity management systems have been deemed assecure since they often use professionally maintained hardware andsoftware. Typically, the identity issuing organization sets the termsand requirements for registering people with the organization. Finally,when a party needs to verify another party's identity, the verifyingparty often needs to go through the centralized identity managementsystem to obtain information verifying and/or authenticating the otherparty's identity.

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) are a new type of identifier, which areindependent of any centralized registry, identity provider, orcertificate authority. Distributed ledger technology (such asblockchain) provides the opportunity for using fully decentralizedidentifiers. Distributed ledger technology uses globally distributedledgers to record transactions between two or more parties in averifiable way. Once a transaction is recorded, the data in the sectionof ledger cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of allsubsequent sections of the ledger, which provides a fairly secureplatform. In such a decentralized environment, each owner of DIDgenerally has control over his/her own data using his/her DID.

The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments thatsolve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such asthose described above. Rather, this background is only provided toillustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodimentsdescribed herein may be practiced.

BRIEF SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that is further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

Embodiments disclosed herein are related to computing systems, andmethods for execution of an application in a container within a scope ofuser-granted permission. The computing system and methods areimplemented in a decentralized network that implements a distributededger, the distributed ledger being configured to back up one or moredecentralized identifier (DID) for one or more users of the computingsystem. A request for using data stored in a data storage that isassociated with an owner of a DID is received. Specifically, the requestfor using the data is a request for using the data as one or moreinput(s) of an application associated with the entity to generate one ormore result(s). Next, one or more characteristics of the applicationassociated with the entity is identified. Based on the identified one ormore characteristics, a scope of permission to use the requested data asone or more inputs of the application is determined. Then, the scope ofpermission is granted to a container where the application is or is tobe stored. Next, the application is executed in the container togenerate the one or more result(s). The one or more results are thensent to the owner of the DID.

Additional features and advantages will be set forth in the descriptionwhich follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or maybe learned by the practice of the teachings herein. Features andadvantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of theinstruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims. Features of the present invention will become more fullyapparent from the following description and appended claims, or may belearned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features can be obtained, a more particular descriptionof the subject matter briefly described above will be rendered byreference to specific embodiments which are illustrated in the appendeddrawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typicalembodiments and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting inscope, embodiments will be described and explained with additionalspecificity and details through the use of the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing system in which the principlesdescribed herein may be employed;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example environment for creating a decentralizedidentification or identifier (DID);

FIG. 3 illustrates an example environment for various DID managementoperations and services;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example decentralized storage device or identityhub;

FIG. 5 illustrates an overview comparison between a centralized datasystem and a decentralized data system;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example embodiment for executing an application ina container within a scope of DID owner granted permission;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for executing anapplication in a container within a scope of a DID owner grantedpermission;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for executing anapplication in a container within a scope of a DID owner grantedpermission, wherein the application is also associated with a DID;

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for determining ascope of permission to access the requested data;

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for receiving oneor more results from the container; and

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 1100 for storingand executing an application as an intermediary using a DID owner'spersonal data and providing the results to the application providerand/or the DID owner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments disclosed herein are related to computing systems, andmethods for execution of an application in a container within a scope ofuser-granted permission. The computing system and methods areimplemented in a decentralized network that implements a distributededger, the distributed ledger being configured to back up one or moredecentralized identifier (DID) for one or more users of the computingsystem. A request for using data stored in a data storage that isassociated with an owner of a DID is received. Specifically, the requestfor using the data is a request for using the data as one or moreinput(s) of an application associated with the entity to generate one ormore result(s). Next, one or more characteristics of the applicationassociated with the entity is identified. Based on the identified one ormore characteristics, a scope of permission to use the requested data asone or more inputs of the application is determined. Then, the scope ofpermission is granted to a container where the application is or is tobe stored. Next, the application is executed in the container togenerate the one or more result(s). The one or more results are thensent to the owner of the DID.

The principles described herein allows a third-party application, whichuses a user's personal data, to be executed in a container. Both theuser and the third party may have certain information that is preferredto be protected from each other or others. For example, the third partymay have proprietary property embedded in the application that ispreferred not to be disclosed to any user, and the user's personal dataincludes the user's private information that is preferred not to bedisclosed to any third party. Since the container is isolated from boththe user and the third party, information of both the user and the thirdparty is protected from each other, while the application still can beexecuted using the user's personal data to generate the results that theuser and/or the third party need.

Because the principles described herein may be performed in the contextof a computing system, some introductory discussion of a computingsystem will be described with respect to FIG. 1. Then, this descriptionwill return to the principles of the DID platform with respect to theremaining figures.

Computing systems are now increasingly taking a wide variety of forms.Computing systems may, for example, be handheld devices, appliances,laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes, distributed computingsystems, data centers, or even devices that have not conventionally beenconsidered a computing system, such as wearables (e.g., glasses). Inthis description and in the claims, the term “computing system” isdefined broadly as including any device or system (or a combinationthereof) that includes at least one physical and tangible processor, anda physical and tangible memory capable of having thereoncomputer-executable instructions that may be executed by a processor.The memory may take any form and may depend on the nature and form ofthe computing system. A computing system may be distributed over anetwork environment and may include multiple constituent computingsystems.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, in its most basic configuration, a computingsystem 100 typically includes at least one hardware processing unit 102and memory 104. The processing unit 102 may include a general purposeprocessor and may also include a field programmable gate array (FPGA),an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any otherspecialized circuit. The memory 104 may be physical system memory, whichmay be volatile, non-volatile, or some combination of the two. The term“memory” may also be used herein to refer to non-volatile mass storagesuch as physical storage media. If the computing system is distributed,the processing, memory and/or storage capability may be distributed aswell.

The computing system 100 also has thereon multiple structures oftenreferred to as an “executable component”. For instance, the memory 104of the computing system 100 is illustrated as including executablecomponent 106. The term “executable component” is the name for astructure that is well understood to one of ordinary skill in the art inthe field of computing as being a structure that can be software,hardware, or a combination thereof. For instance, when implemented insoftware, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that thestructure of an executable component may include software objects,routines, methods, and so forth, that may be executed on the computingsystem, whether such an executable component exists in the heap of acomputing system, or whether the executable component exists oncomputer-readable storage media.

In such a case, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thestructure of the executable component exists on a computer-readablemedium such that, when interpreted by one or more processors of acomputing system (e.g., by a processor thread), the computing system iscaused to perform a function. Such structure may be computer readabledirectly by the processors (as is the case if the executable componentwere binary). Alternatively, the structure may be structured to beinterpretable and/or compiled (whether in a single stage or in multiplestages) so as to generate such binary that is directly interpretable bythe processors. Such an understanding of example structures of anexecutable component is well within the understanding of one of ordinaryskill in the art of computing when using the term “executablecomponent”.

The term “executable component” is also well understood by one ofordinary skill as including structures, such as hard coded or hard wiredlogic gates, that are implemented exclusively or near-exclusively inhardware, such as within a field programmable gate array (FPGA), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other specializedcircuit. Accordingly, the term “executable component” is a term for astructure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the artof computing, whether implemented in software, hardware, or acombination. In this description, the terms “component”, “agent”,“manager”, “service”, “engine”, “module”, “virtual machine” or the likemay also be used. As used in this description and in the case, theseterms (whether expressed with or without a modifying clause) are alsointended to be synonymous with the term “executable component”, and thusalso have a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skillin the art of computing.

In the description that follows, embodiments are described withreference to acts that are performed by one or more computing systems.If such acts are implemented in software, one or more processors (of theassociated computing system that performs the act) direct the operationof the computing system in response to having executedcomputer-executable instructions that constitute an executablecomponent. For example, such computer-executable instructions may beembodied on one or more computer-readable media that form a computerprogram product. An example of such an operation involves themanipulation of data. If such acts are implemented exclusively ornear-exclusively in hardware, such as within a FPGA or an ASIC, thecomputer-executable instructions may be hard coded or hard wired logicgates. The computer-executable instructions (and the manipulated data)may be stored in the memory 104 of the computing system 100. Computingsystem 100 may also contain communication channels 108 that allow thecomputing system 100 to communicate with other computing systems over,for example, network 110.

While not all computing systems require a user interface, in someembodiments, the computing system 100 includes a user interface system112 for use in interfacing with a user. The user interface system 112may include output mechanisms 112A as well as input mechanisms 112B. Theprinciples described herein are not limited to the precise outputmechanisms 112A or input mechanisms 112B as such will depend on thenature of the device. However, output mechanisms 112A might include, forinstance, speakers, displays, tactile output, holograms and so forth.Examples of input mechanisms 112B might include, for instance,microphones, touchscreens, holograms, cameras, keyboards, mouse of otherpointer input, sensors of any type, and so forth.

Embodiments described herein may comprise or utilize a special purposeor general-purpose computing system including computer hardware, suchas, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as discussedin greater detail below. Embodiments described herein also includephysical and other computer-readable media for carrying or storingcomputer-executable instructions and/or data structures. Suchcomputer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby a general purpose or special purpose computing system.Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions arephysical storage media. Computer-readable media that carrycomputer-executable instructions are transmission media. Thus, by way ofexample, and not limitation, embodiments of the invention can compriseat least two distinctly different kinds of computer-readable media:storage media and transmission media.

Computer-readable storage media includes RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, orother optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, or other magneticstorage devices, or any other physical and tangible storage medium whichcan be used to store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system.

A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable thetransport of electronic data between computing systems and/or modulesand/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputing system, the computing system properly views the connection asa transmission medium. Transmissions media can include a network and/ordata links which can be used to carry desired program code means in theform of computer-executable instructions or data structures and whichcan be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computingsystem. Combinations of the above should also be included within thescope of computer-readable media.

Further, upon reaching various computing system components, program codemeans in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structurescan be transferred automatically from transmission media to storagemedia (or vice versa). For example, computer-executable instructions ordata structures received over a network or data link can be buffered inRAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and theneventually transferred to computing system RAM and/or to less volatilestorage media at a computing system. Thus, it should be understood thatstorage media can be included in computing system components that also(or even primarily) utilize transmission media.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which, when executed at a processor, cause a general purposecomputing system, special purpose computing system, or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.Alternatively or in addition, the computer-executable instructions mayconfigure the computing system to perform a certain function or group offunctions. The computer executable instructions may be, for example,binaries or even instructions that undergo some translation (such ascompilation) before direct execution by the processors, such asintermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or evensource code.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the described features or acts described above.Rather, the described features and acts are disclosed as example formsof implementing the claims.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may bepracticed in network computing environments with many types of computingsystem configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers,laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones,PDAs, pagers, routers, switches, datacenters, wearables (such asglasses) and the like. The invention may also be practiced indistributed system environments where local and remote computing system,which are linked (either by hardwired data links, wireless data links,or by a combination of hardwired and wireless data links) through anetwork, both perform tasks. In a distributed system environment,program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storagedevices.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention may bepracticed in a cloud computing environment. Cloud computing environmentsmay be distributed, although this is not required. When distributed,cloud computing environments may be distributed internationally withinan organization and/or have components possessed across multipleorganizations. In this description and the following claims, “cloudcomputing” is defined as a model for enabling on-demand network accessto a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks,servers, storage, applications, and services). The definition of “cloudcomputing” is not limited to any of the other numerous advantages thatcan be obtained from such a model when properly deployed.

The remaining figures may discuss various computing system which maycorrespond to the computing system 100 previously described. Thecomputing systems of the remaining figures include various components orfunctional blocks that may implement the various embodiments disclosedherein as will be explained. The various components or functional blocksmay be implemented on a local computing system or may be implemented ona distributed computing system that includes elements resident in thecloud or that implement aspects of cloud computing. The variouscomponents or functional blocks may be implemented as software,hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. The computingsystems of the remaining figures may include more or less than thecomponents illustrated in the figures and some of the components may becombined as circumstances warrant. Although not necessarily illustrated,the various components of the computing systems may access and/orutilize a processor and memory, such as processor 102 and memory 104, asneeded to perform their various functions.

Some introductory discussion of a decentralized identification (DID) andthe environment is which they are created and reside will not be givenwith respect to FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a DID owner 201 mayown or control a DID 205 that represents an identity of the DID owner201. The DID owner 201 may register a DID using a creation andregistration service, which will be explained in more detail below.

The DID owner 201 may be any entity that could benefit from a DID. Forexample, the DID owner 201 may be a human being or an organization ofhuman beings. Such organizations might include a company, department,government, agency, or any other organization or group of organization.Each individual human being might have a DID while the organization(s)to which each belongs might likewise have a DID.

The DID owner 201 may alternatively be a machine, system, or device, ora collection of machine(s), device(s) and/or system(s). In still otherembodiments, the DID owner 201 may be a subpart of a machine, system ordevice. For instance, a device could be a printed circuit board, wherethe subpart of that circuit board are individual components of thecircuit board. In such embodiments, the machine or device may have a DIDand each subpart may also have a DID. A DID owner might also be asoftware component such as the executable component 106 described abovewith respect to FIG. 1. An example of a complex executable component 106might be an artificial intelligence. An artificial intelligence may alsoown a DID.

Thus, the DID owner 201 may be any reasonable entity, human ornon-human, that is capable of creating the DID 205 or at least havingthe DID 205 created for and associated with them. Although the DID owner201 is shown as having a single DID 205, this need not be the case asthere may be any number of DIDs associated with the DID owner 201 ascircumstances warrant.

As mentioned, the DID owner 201 may create and register the DID 205. TheDID 205 may be any identifier that may be associated with the DID owner201. Preferably, that identifier is unique to that DID owner 201, atleast within a scope in which the DID is anticipated to be in use. As anexample, the identifier may be a locally unique identifier, and perhapsmore desirably a globally unique identifier for identity systemsanticipated to operate globally. In some embodiments, the DID 205 may bea Uniform Resource identifier (URI) (such as a Uniform Resource Locator(URL)) or other pointer that relates the DID owner 201 to mechanism toengage in trustable interactions with the DID owner 201.

The DID 205 is “decentralized” because it does not require acentralized, third party management system for generation, management,or use. Accordingly, the DID 205 remains under the control of the DIDowner 201. This is different from conventional centralized IDs basedtrust on centralized authorities and that remain under control of thecorporate directory services, certificate authorities, domain nameregistries, or other centralized authority (referred to collectively as“centralized authorities” herein). Accordingly, the DID 205 may be anyidentifier that is under the control of the DID owner 201 andindependent of any centralize authority.

In some embodiments, the structure of the DID 205 may be as simple as auser name or some other human understandable term. However, in otherembodiments, the DID 205 may preferably be a random string of number andletters for increased security. In one embodiment, the DID 205 may be astring of 128 letters and numbers. Accordingly, the embodimentsdisclosed herein are not dependent on any specific implementation of theDID 205. In a very simple example, the DID 205 is shown as “123ABC”.

As also shown in FIG. 2, the DID owner 201 has control of a private key206 and public key 207 pair that are associated with the DID 20. Becausethe DID 205 is independent of any centralized authority, the private key206 should at all times be fully in control of the DID owner 201. Thatis, the private and public keys should be generated in a decentralizedmanner that ensures that they remain under the control of the DID owner201.

As will be described in more detail to follow, the private key 206 andpublic key 207 pair may be generated on a device controlled by the DIDowner 201. The private key 206 and public key 207 pair should not begenerated on a server controlled by any centralized authority as thismay cause the private key 206 and public key 207 pair to not be fullyunder the control of the DID owner 201 at all times. Although FIG. 2 andthis description have described a private and public key pair, it willalso be noted that other types of reasonable cryptographic informationand/or mechanism may also be used as circumstances warrant.

FIG. 2 also illustrates a DID document 210 that is associated with theDID 205. As will be explained in more detail to follow, the DID document210 may be generated at the time that the DID 205 is created. In itssimplest form, the DID document 210 describes how to use the DID 205.Accordingly, the DID document 210 includes a reference to the DID 205,which is the DID that is described by the DID document 210. In someembodiments, the DID document 210 may be implemented according tomethods specified by a distributed ledger 220 that will be used to storea representation of the DID 205 as will be explained in more detail tofollow. Thus, the DID document 210 may have different methods dependingof the specific distributed ledger.

The DID document 210 also includes the public key 207 created by the DIDowner 201 or some other equivalent cryptographic information. The publickey 207 may be used by third party entities that are given permission bythe DID owner 201 to access information and data owned by the DID owner201. The public key 207 may also be used by verify that the DID owner201 in fact owns or controls the DID 205.

The DID document 210 may also include authentication information 211.The authentication information 211 may specify one or more mechanisms bywhich the DID owner 201 is able to prove that the DID owner 201 owns theDID 205. In other words, the mechanisms of authentication information211 may show proof of a binding between the DID 205 (and thus it's DIDowner 201) and the DID document 210. In one embodiment, theauthentication information 211 may specify that the public key 207 beused in a signature operation to prove the ownership of the DID 205.Alternatively or in addition, the authentication information 211 mayspecify that the public key 207 be used in a biometric operation toprove ownership of the DID 205. Accordingly, the authenticationinformation 211 may include any number of mechanisms by which the DIDowner 201 is able to prove that the DID owner 201 owns the DID 205.

The DID document 210 may also include authorization information 212. Theauthorization information 212 may allow the DID owner 201 to authorizethird party entities the rights to modify the DID document 210 or somepart of the document without giving the third party the right to proveownership of the DID 205. For example, the authorization information 212may allow the third party to update any designated set of one or morefields in the DID document 210 using any designated update mechanism.Alternatively, the authorization information may allow the third partyto limit the usages of DID 205 by the DID owner 201 for a specified timeperiod. This may be useful when the DID owner 201 is a minor child andthe third party is a parent or guardian of the child. The authorizationinformation 212 may allow the parent or guardian to limit use of the DID201 until such time as the child is no longer a minor.

The authorization information 212 may also specify one or moremechanisms that the third party will need to follow to prove they areauthorized to modify the DID document 210. In some embodiments, thesemechanism may be similar to those discussed previously with respect tothe authentication information 211.

The DID document 210 may also include one or more service endpoints 213.A service endpoint may include a network address at which a serviceoperates on behalf of the DID owner 201. Examples of specific servicesinclude discovery services, social networks, file storage services suchas identity servers or hubs, and verifiable claim repository services.Accordingly, the service endpoints 213 operate as pointers for theservices that operate on behalf of the DID owner 201. These pointers maybe used by the DID owner 201 or by third party entities to access theservices that operate on behalf of the DID owner 201. Specific examplesof service endpoints 213 will be explained in more detail to follow.

The ID document 210 may further include identification information 214.The identification information 214 may include personally identifiableinformation such as the name, address, occupation, family members, age,hobbies, interests, or the like of DID owner 201. Accordingly, theidentification information 214 listed in the DID document 210 mayrepresent a different persona of the DID owner 201 for differentpurposes. For instance, a persona may be pseudo anonymous, e.g., the DIDowner 201 may include a pen name in the DID document when identifyinghim or her as a writer posting articles on a blog; a persona may befully anonymous, e.g., the DID owner 201 may only want to disclose hisor her job title or other background data (e.g., a school teacher, anFBI agent, an adult older than 21 years old, etc.) but not his or hername in the DID document; and a persona may be specific to who the DIDowner 201 is as an individual, e.g., the DID owner 201 may includeinformation identifying him or her as a volunteer for a particularcharity organization, an employee of a particular corporation, an awardwinner of a particular award, etc.

The DID document 210 may also include credential information 215, whichmay also be referred to herein as an attestation. The credentialinformation 215 may be any information that is associated with the DIDowner 201's background. For instance, the credential information 215 maybe (but not limited to) a qualification, an achievement, a governmentID, a government right such as a passport or a driver's license, apayment provider or bank account, a university degree or othereducational history, employment status and history, or any otherinformation about the DID owner 201's background.

The DID document 210 may also include various other information 216. Insome embodiments, the other information 216 may include metadataspecifying when the DID document 210 was created and/or when it was lastmodified. In other embodiments, the other information 216 may includecryptographic proofs of the integrity of the DID document 210. In stillfurther embodiments, the other information 216 may include additionalinformation that is either specified by the specific method implementingthe DID document or desired by the DID owner 201.

FIG. 2 also illustrates a distributed ledger or blockchain 220. Thedistributed ledger 220 may be any decentralized, distributed networkthat includes various computing systems that are in communication witheach other. For example, the distributed ledger 220 may include a firstdistributed computing system 230, a second distributed computing system240, a third distributed computing system 250, and any number ofadditional distributed computing systems as illustrated by the ellipses260. The distributed ledger or blockchain 220 may operate according toany known standards or methods for distributed ledgers. Examples ofconventional distributed ledgers that may correspond to the distributedledger or blockchain 220 include, but are not limited to, Bitcoin [BTC],Ethereum, and Litecoin.

In the context of DID 205, the distributed ledger or blockchain 220 isused to store a representation of the DID 205 that points to the DIDdocument 210. In some embodiments, the DID document 210 may be stored onthe actual distributed ledger. Alternatively, in other embodiments theDID document 210 may be stored in a data storage (not illustrated) thatis associated with the distributed ledger or blockchain 220.

As mentioned, a representation of the DID 205 is stored on eachdistributed computing system of the distributed ledger or blockchain220. For example, in FIG. 2 this is shown as the DID has 231, DID has241, and DID has 251, which are ideally identical copies of the sameDID. The DID hash 231, DID has 241, and DID hash 251 may then point tothe location of the DID document 210. The distributed ledger orblockchain 220 may also store numerous other representations of otherDIDs as illustrated by references 232, 233, 234, 242, 243, 244, 252,253, and 254.

In one embodiment, when the DID user 201 creates the DID 205 and theassociated DID document 210, the DID has 231, DID has 241, and DID hash251 are written to the distributed ledger or blockchain 220. Thedistributed ledger or blockchain 220 thus records that the DID 205 nowexists. Since the distributed ledger or blockchain 220 is decentralized,the DID 205 is not under the control of any entity outside of the DIDowner 201. The DID hash 231, DID has 241, and DID has 251 may include,in addition to the pointer to the DID document 210, a record or timestamp that specifies when the DID 205 was created. At a later date whenmodifications are made to the DID document 210, this may also berecorded in DID has 231, DID has 241, and DID has 251. The DID has 231,DID has 241, and DID hash 251 may further include a copy of the publickey 207 so that the DID 205 is cryptographically bound to the DIDdocument 210.

Having described DIDs and how they operate generally with reference toFIG. 2, specific embodiments of DIDs will now be explained. Turning toFIG. 3, an environment 300 that may be used to perform various DIDlifecycle management operations and services will now be explained. Itwill be appreciated that the environment of FIG. 3 may referenceelements from FIG. 2 as needed for ease of explanation.

As shown in FIG. 3, the environment 300 may include various devices andcomputing systems that may be owned or otherwise under the control ofthe DID owner 21. These may include a user device 301. The user device301 may be, but is not limited to, a mobile device such as a smartphone, a computing device such as a laptop computer, or any device suchas a car or an appliance that includes computing abilities. The device301 may include a web browser 302 operating on the device and anoperating system 303 operating the device. More broadly speaking, thedashed line 304 represents that all of these devices may be owned orotherwise under the control of the DID owner 201.

The environment 300 also includes a DID lifestyle management module 320.It will be noted that in operation, the DID lifecycle management module320 may reside on and be executed by one or more of user device 301, webbrowser 302, and the operating system 303 as illustrated by the lines301 a, 302 a, and 303 a. Accordingly, DID lifecycle management module320 is shown as being separate for ease of explanation.

As shown in FIG. 3, the DID lifecycle management module 320 includes aDID creation module 330. The DID creation module 330 may be used by theDID owner 201 to create the DID 205 or any number of additional DIDs,such as DID 331. In one embodiment, the DID creation module may includeor otherwise have access to a User Interface (UI) element 335 that mayguide the DID owner 201 in creating the DID 205. The DID creation module330 may have one or more drivers that are configured to work withspecific distributed ledgers such as distributed ledger 220 so that theDID 205 complies with the underlying methods of that distributed ledger.

A specific embodiment will now be described. For example, the UI 335 mayprovide a prompt for the user to enter a user name or some other humanrecognizable name. This name may be used as a display name for the DID205 that will be generated. As previously described, the DID 205 may bea long string of random numbers and letters and so having a humanrecognizable name for a display name be advantageous. The DID creationmodule 330 may then generate the DID 205. In the embodiments having theUI 335, the DID 205 may be shown in a listing of identities and may beassociated with the human recognizable name.

The DID creation module may also include a key generation module 350.The key generation module may generate the private key 206 and publickey 207 pair previously described. The DID creation module 330 may thenuse the DID 205 and the private and public key pair to generate the DIDdocument 210.

In operation, the DID creation module 330 accesses a registrar 310 thatis configured to the specific distributed ledger that will be recordingthe transactions related to the DID 205. The DID creation module 330uses the registrar 310 to record the DID hash 231, DID hash 241, and DIDhash 251 in the distributed ledger in the manner previously describedand to store the DID document 210 in the manner previously described.This process may use the public key 207 in the has generation.

In some embodiments, the DID lifecycle management module 320 may includean ownership module 340. The ownership module 340 may provide mechanismsthat ensure that the DID owner 201 is aware that the DID owner 201 is insole control of the DID 205. In this way, the provider of the DIDlifecycle management module 320 is able to ensure that the provider doesnot control the DID 205, but is only providing the management services.

As previously discussed, the key generation module 350 generates theprivate key 206 and public key 207 pair and the public key 207 is thenrecorded in the DID document 210. Accordingly, the public key 207 may beused by all devices associated with the DID owner 201 and all thirdparties that desire to provide services to the DID owner 201.Accordingly, when the DID owner 201 desires to associate a new devicewith the DID 205, the DID owner 201 may execute the DID creation module330 on the new device. The DID creation module 330 may then use theregistrar 310 to update the DID document 210 to reflect that the newdevice is now associated with the DID 205 and this would be reflected inan updated transaction on the distributed ledger 220 as previouslydescribed.

In some embodiments, however, it may be advantageous to have a publickey per device 301 owned by the DID owner 201 as this may allow the DIDowner 201 to sign with the specific device public key without having toaccess a general public key. In other words, since the DID owner 201will use different devices at different times (for example using amobile phone in one instance and then using a laptop computer in anotherinstance) it is advantageous to have a key associated with each deviceto provide efficiencies in signing using the keys. Accordingly, in suchembodiments the key generation module may generate additional publickeys 208 and 209 when the additional devices execute the DID creationmodule 330. These additional public keys may be associated with privatekey 206 or in some instances may be paired with a new private key.

In those embodiments where the additional public keys 208 and 209 areassociated with different devices, the additional public keys 208 and209 may be recorded in the DID document 210 as being associated withthose devices. This is shown in FIG. 3. It will be appreciated that theDID documents 210 may include the information previously described inrelation to FIG. 2 in addition to the information shown in FIG. 3. Ifthe DID document 210 existed prior to the device specific public keysbeing generated, then the DID document 210 would be updated by thecreation module 330 via the registrar 310 and this would be reflected inan updated transaction on the distributed ledger 220.

In some embodiments, the DID owner 201 may desire to keep theassociation of a device with a public key or even with the DID 205 asecret. Accordingly, the DID creation module 330 may cause that suchdata be secretly shown in the DID document 210.

As described thus far, the DID 205 has been associated with all thedevices under the control of the DID owner 201, even when the deviceshave their own public keys. However, in some embodiments it may beuseful for each device or some subset of devices under the control ofthe DID owner 201 to each have their own DID. Thus, in some embodimentsthe DID creation module 330 may generate an additional DID, for exampleDID 331, for each device. The creation module would then generateprivate and public key pairs and DID documents for each of the devicesand have them recorded on the distributed ledger 220 in the mannerpreviously described. Such embodiments may be advantageous for devicesthat may change ownership as it may be possible to associate thespecific device DID to the new owner of the device by granting the newowner authorization rights in the DID document and revoking such rightsfrom the old owner.

As mentioned, the private key, to ensure that it is totally in thecontrol of the DID owner 201, is created on the user device 301, browser302, or operating system 303 owned or controlled by the DID owner 201that executed the DID management module 320. In this way, there islittle chance that a third party may gain control of the private key206, especially the provider of the DID lifecycle management module 320.However, there is a chance that the device storing the private key 206may be lost by the DID owner 201, which may cause the DID owner 201 tolose access to the DID 205. Accordingly, in some embodiments the UI 335may include the option to allow the DID owner 201 to export the privatekey 206 to an off device secured database 305 that is under the controlof the DID owner 201. In some embodiments, the private key 206 may bestored as a QR code that may scanned by the DID owner 201.

In other embodiments, the DID lifecycle management module 320 mayinclude a recovery module 360 that may be used to recover a lost privatekey 206. In operation, the recovery module 360 allows the DID owner 201to select one or more recovery mechanisms 365 at the time the DID 205 iscreated that may later be used to recover the lost private key. In thoseembodiments having the UI 335, the UI 335 may allow the DID owner 201 toprovide required information that will be needed by the one or morerecovery mechanisms 365 when the recovery mechanisms are implemented.The recovery module may then be run on any device associated with theDID 205.

The DID lifecycle management module 320 may also include a revocationmodule 370 that is used to revoke or sever a device from the DID 205. Inoperation, the revocation module may use the UI element 335, which mayallow the DID owner 201 to indicate a desire to remove a device frombeing associated with the DID 205. In one embodiment, the revocationmodule may access the DID document 210 and may cause that all referencesto the device be removed from the DID document. Alternatively, thepublic key for the device may be removed. This change in the DIDdocument 210 may then be reflected as an updated transaction on thedistributed ledger 220 as previously described.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of an environment 400 in which a DIDsuch as DID 205 may be utilized. Specifically, the environment 400 willbe used to describe the use of the DID 205 in relation to one or moredecentralized storage devices or identity hubs. It will be noted thatFIG. 4 may include references to elements first discussed in relation toFIG. 2 or 3 and thus use the same reference numeral for ease ofexplanation.

In one embodiment, the identity hubs 410 may be multiple instances ofthe same identity hub. This is represented by the line 410A. Thus, thevarious identity hubs 410 may include at least some of the same data andservices. Accordingly, if any change is made to one of the identity hubs410, the change may be reflected in the remaining identity hubs. Forexample, the first identity hub 411 and second identity hub 412 areimplemented in cloud storage and thus may be able to hold a large amountof data. Accordingly, a full set of the data may be stored in theseidentity hubs. However, the identity hubs 412 and 413 may have lessmemory space. Accordingly, in these identity hubs a descriptor of thedata stored in the first and second identity hubs may be included.Alternatively, a record of changes made to the data in other identityhubs may be included. Thus, changes in one of the identity hubs 410 areeither fully replicated in the other identity hubs or at least a recordor descriptor of that data is recorded in the other identity hubs.

Because the identity hubs may be multiple instances of the same identityhub, only a full description of the first identity hub 411 will providedas this description may also apply to the identity hubs 412-415. Asillustrated, identity hub 411 may include data storage 420. The datastorage 420 may be used to store any type of data that is associatedwith the DID owner 201. In one embodiment the data may be a collection422 of a specific type of data corresponding to a specific protocol. Forexample, the collection 422 may be medical records data that correspondsto a specific protocol for medical data. The collection 422 may be anyother type of data.

In one embodiment, the stored data may have different authentication andprivacy settings 421 associated with the stored data. For example, afirst subset of the data may have a setting 421 that allows the data tobe publically exposed, but that does not include any authentication tothe DID owner 201. This type of data may be for relatively unimportantdata such as color schemes and the like. A second subset of the data mayhave a setting 421 that that allows the data to be publically exposedand that includes authentication to the DID owner 201. A third subset ofthe data may have a setting 421 that encrypts the subset of data withthe private key 206 and public key 207 pair (or some other key pair)associated with the DID owner 201. This type of data will require aparty to have access to the public key 207 or to some other associatedpublic key in order to decrypt the data. This process may also includeauthentication to the DID owner 201. A fourth subset of the data mayhave a setting 421 that restricts this data to a subset of thirdparties. This may require that public keys associated with the subset ofthird parties be used to decrypt the data. For example, the DID owner201 may cause the setting 421 to specify that only public keysassociated with friends of the DID owner 201 may decrypt this data.

In some embodiments, the identity hub 411 may have a permissions module430 that allows the DID owner 201 to set specific authorization orpermissions for third parties such as third parties 401 and 402 toaccess the identity hub. For example, the DID owner 201 may provideaccess permission to his or her spouse to all the data 420.Alternatively, the DID owner 201 may allow access to his or her doctorfor any medical records. It will be appreciated that the DID owner 201may permission to any number of third parties to access a subset of thedata 420. This will be explained in more detail to follow.

The identity hub 411 may also have a messaging module 440. In operation,the messaging module allows the identity hub to receive messages such asrequests from parties such as third parties 401 and 402 to access thedata and services of the identity hub. In addition, the messaging module440 allows the identity hub 411 to respond to the messages from thethird parties and to also communicate with a DID resolver 450. This willbe explained in more detail to follow. The ellipses 416 represent thatthe identity hub 411 may have additional services as circumstanceswarrant.

In one embodiment, the DID owner 201 may wish to authenticate a newdevice 301 with the identity hub 411 that is already associated with theDID 205 in the manner previously described. Accordingly, the DID owner201 may utilize the DID management module 320 associated with the newuser device 301 to send a message to the identity hub 411 asserting thatthe new user device is associated with the DID 205 of the DID owner 201.

However, the identity hub 411 may not initially recognize the new deviceas being owned by the DID owner 201. Accordingly, the identity hub 411may use the messaging module 440 to contact the DID resolver 450. Themessage sent to the DID resolver 450 may include the DID 205.

The DID resolver 450 may be a service, application, or module that isconfigured in operation to search the distributed ledger 220 for DIDdocuments associated with DIDs. Accordingly, in the embodiment the DIDresolver 450 may search the distributed ledger 220 using the DID 205,which may result in the DID resolver 450 finding the DID document 210.The DID document 210 may then be provided to the identity hub 411.

As discussed previously, the DID document 210 may include a public key208 or 209 that is associated with the new user device 301. To verifythat the new user device is owned by the DID owner 201, the identity hub411 may provide a cryptographic challenge to the new user device 301using the messaging module 440. This cryptographic challenge will bestructured such that only a device having access to the private key 206will be able to successfully answer the challenge

In the embodiment, since the new user device is owned by DID owner 201and thus has access to the private key 206, the challenge may besuccessfully answered. The identity hub 411 may then record in thepermissions 430 that the new user device 301 is able to access the dataand services of the identity hub 411 and also the rest of the identityhubs 210.

It will be noted that this process of authenticating the new user device301 was performed without the need for the DID owner 201 to provide anyusername, password or the like to the provider of the identity hub 411(i.e., the first cloud storage provider) before the identity hub 411could be accessed. Rather, the access was determined in a decentralizedmanner based on the DID 205, the DID document 210, and the associatedpublic and private keys. Since these were at all times in the control ofthe DID owner 201, the provider of the identity hub 411 was not involvedand thus has no knowledge of the transaction or of any personalinformation of the DID owner 201.

In another example embodiment, the DID owner 201 may provide the DID 205to the third party entity 401 so that the third party may access data orservices stored on the identity hub 411. For example, the DID owner 201may be a human who is at a scientific conference who desires to allowthe third party 401, who is also a human, access to his or her researchdata. Accordingly, the DID owner 201 may provide the DID 205 to thethird party 401.

Once the third party 401 has access to the DID 205, he or she may accessthe DID resolver 450 to access the DID document 210. As previouslydiscussed, the DID document 210 may include an end point 213 that is anaddress or pointer to the identity hub 411. The third party 401 may thenuse the address or pointer to access the identity hub 411.

The third party 401 may send a message to the messaging module 440asking for permission to access the research data. The messaging module440 may then send a message to the DID owner 201 asking if the thirdparty 401 should be given access to the research data. Because the DIDowner desires to provide access to this data, the DID owner 201 mayallow permission to the third party 401 and this permission may berecorded in the permissions 430.

The messaging module 440 may then message the third party 401 informingthe third party that he or she is able to access the research data. Theidentity hub 411 and the third party 401 may then directly communicateso that the third party may access the data. It will be noted that inmany cases, it will actually be an identity hub associated with thethird party 401 that communicates with the identity hub 411. However, itmay a device of the third party 401 that does the communication.

Advantageously, the above described process allows the identity hub 411and the third party 401 to communicate and to share the data without theneed for the third party to access the identity hub 411 in theconventional manner. Rather, the communication is provisioned in thedecentralized manner using the DID 205 and the DID document 210. Thisadvantageously allows the DID owner to be in full control of theprocess.

As shown in FIG. 4, the third party 402 may also request permission foraccess to the identity hub 411 using the DID 205 and the DID document210. Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed herein allow access to anynumber of third parties to the identity hubs 210.

Having described an example environment for creating a DID and anexample environment for various DID lifecycle management operations andservices, we will make a simplified comparison between a “centralized”data system and a “decentralized” data system (that implements DIDs)with respect to FIG. 5.

The left side of FIG. 5 illustrates one or more centralized data systems501. A “centralized data system” referred herein is a database or datasystem that is stored and maintained by a centralized organization. Thedatabase or data system may be located in a single location as a true“centralized” data system, or it may be a distributed database thatincludes multiple database files located in different locations.However, no matter whether the data system is located in a singlelocation or multiple locations, as long as the data system is stored andmaintained by a centralized organization, such a data system is hereinreferred to as “centralized data system.”

Most of the existing data systems are centralized. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 5, the medical database 510 is an examplecentralized database. The medical database 510 may be stored andmaintained by a hospital, a clinic office, and/or a data serviceprovider. The medical database 510 includes Alice's data 511 and Bob'sdata 512. The ellipsis 513 represents that there may be records of anynumber of patients being stored in the medical database 510. Currently,even though the laws may require health service providers to makemedical data be available to the respective patient, each patientnormally does not have constant access to his/her own medical data. Apatient usually needs to submit a written request or request in person,if he/she wants to review his/her complete medical history.

Additionally, the social media database 520 and the email database 530are also examples of centralized data systems. For instance, the socialmedia company (e.g., Facebook) maintains its own database 520 that mayinclude each of the users' personal information, the corresponding usergenerated contents, communications between the corresponding user andother users, etc. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the social media database520 may include a record of Alice (i.e., Alice data 521) and a record ofBob (i.e., Bob data 522). The record of Alice 521 may include Alice'spersonal information that she entered in the settings, her friends' IDs,the message Alice has posted, the ads Alice has clicked, etc. Similarly,the record of Bob 522 may include similar types of information that isassociated with Bob's social media account. The ellipsis 523 representsthat there may be any number of user records stored in the social mediadatabase 520 that is controlled and maintained by the social mediaservice provider. Even though in this case each of the social mediaaccount holders generally has access to his/her own account information,the social media service provider has real control over all the data.For example, if the social media service provider's server is down orthe hard drive is crashed, the users may lose connection or even losetheir data. Another example, if the social media service's server ishacked, the users' information may be lost even without the users'knowledge.

Also similarly, the email database 530 is another example of acentralized data system. The email database 530 is controlled andmaintained by the email service provider (e.g., outlook.com, gmail.com,etc.). Most of the existing service providers maintain its own emailserver, and each user must register an account with the email server toobtain an email account. Once an email account is registered, it isstored on the server that is maintained by the service provider. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the email database 530 hosted by anemail server may include Alice's email account data 531 and Bob's emailaccount data 532. The ellipsis 533 represents that there may be anynumber of email account records stored in the email database 530.Alice's email account data 531 may include her personal information sheentered when registering the email account. Alice's email data 531 mayalso include all the emails she received and sent using the emailaccount. Similarly, Bob's email account data 432 may include similarinformation related to Bob's email account. If the email server is down,the users would not be able to receive or send emails, and also not ableto retrieve his/her email history unless a local copy is stored on theuser's own device. The email server may also be vulnerable tocyber-attacks. When such an attack occurs, users also often do not awarethat their information has been compromised.

The right side of FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified decentralized system502 that provides a personal storage for each DID owner in an ID hubservice 550. The personal storage in the ID hub service 550 iscontrolled by the DID owner, instead of the centralized organization.For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the ID Hub Service 550 includesAlice's personal storage 560 and Bob's personal storage 570. Theellipsis 580 represents that there may be any number of personalstorages, each of which is associated with a DID (or a DID owner).

The personal storage of Alice 560 includes Alice's medical data 561,Alice's social media data 562, and Alice's email data 563. The ellipsis564 represents that there may be other types of Alice's personal datastored in Alice's personal storage 560 in the ID hub service 550.Similarly, Bob's personal storage 570 stores Bob's medical data 571,Bob's social media data 572, and Bob's email data 573. The ellipsis 574represents that there may be other types of Bob's personal data storedin Bob's personal storage 570 in the ID hub service 550.

Each of Alice 566 and Bob 575 may be a DID owner 201 described in FIGS.2-4. Each of Alice's DID 565 and Bob's DID 575 may be a DID 205described in FIGS. 2-4. In the decentralized system 502, each DID ownerhas great control over his/her own personal data via his/her DID. Forexample, Alice 566 has control over the personal storage 560 via her DID565; and Bob 576 has control over his personal storage 570 via his DID575. No single centralized entity has access to all the users'information and data without each user's consent. Theoretically, as longas the user stores his/her DID (or the private key of his/her DID)securely, no one else could compromise the data stored in the ID hub.Comparing to the centralized systems 501 on the left, it is clear thatunlike the centralized systems 501, where each of the centralizedorganizations maintains and controls every user's data, thedecentralized system 502 allows each of the users (e.g., DID owners) tostore and control his/her own data individually. A user (e.g., a DIDowner) can decide whether the data should be made public and/or who canhave access to the data; and the user can also decide whether he/shewants to delete or make any change of any portion of the data.

As described above, decentralized systems provide a fairly secure datastorage for the users (e.g., DID owners). Without the private key ofDID, it almost impossible for other parties to access the DID owner'sdata, unless the DID owner grants a permission to the other party toaccess the DID owner's data. The principles described herein willfurther allow a user (e.g., a DID owner) to specify a scope ofpermission that is specific to be used in the execution of a particularapplication or a type of applications.

In the modern world, there are many service providers that usecustomer's information as input to run some applications to generate oneor more results for different purposes. For example, when a customershops around for auto insurance, he/she often calls a few insuranceagents and gives these insurance agents his/her personal information,and ask each of these insurance agents to generate a quote.Alternatively, the customer may go online and fill in some online formsat different insurance companies' websites, then these web applicationsuse the user information to generate one or more quotes for thecustomer. Further, some of these web applications also send the user'sinformation to several insurance agents. After the insurance agentsreceive this user information, they will start to contact the usercontinuously for a few weeks or even months. In many situations, oncethe customer gives such personal information out, he/she has no way toretract the information back. The information may be stored with theinsurance companies' system for many years, and the customer has nocontrol how his/her personal information may be used in the future.

The principles described herein provide user a greater and more flexiblecontrol over his/her personal data, while still allowing the third-partyapplication to run with the necessary user data to generate the resultsthat the user needs. Further details of the embodiments of the systemsand the methods for executing an application within a scope ofuser-granted permission are described with respect to FIGS. 6-10.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example embodiment 600 for executing anapplication 620 in a container 673 or 651 within a scope of user-grantedpermission (i.e., DID owner granted permission). As illustrated in FIG.6, each of Alice 640 and Bob (not shown) may be a DID owner 201illustrated in FIGS. 2-4. Alice's personal data 661-663 is stored inAlice's personal storage 660 in the ID hub service 650. Bob's personaldata (not shown) is stored in Bob's personal storage 670 in the ID hubservice 650. The ID hub service 650 may be an ID Hub Service 550 of FIG.5 or the ID hubs 410 of FIG. 4. The ID hub service 650 may be a cloudservice that provides personal storages for multiple DID owners (e.g.,Alice 640 and Bob). The ellipsis 680 represents that the ID hub service650 may store any number of other DID owners' personal data. Alice'spersonal storage 660 may be similar to the personal storage 560 of FIG.5 and Bob's personal storage 670 may be similar to the personals storage570 of FIG. 5.

Alice's personal storage 660 may store many different types of personaldata 661-663, such as Alice's driving history data 661, credit historydata 662, medical data 663, etc. The ellipsis 666 represents that theremay be other types of Alice's personal data stored in Alice's personalstorage 660. Similar to the system illustrated in FIGS. 2-5, Alice 640(who is a DID owner 201) may control her personal data 661-663 via a DIDmanagement module 630. The DID management module 630 may be similar tothe DID management module 320 as illustrated in FIG. 3. For example, theDID management module 630 may be implemented on Alice's mobile device(e.g., a cell phone) and/or a personal computer.

The application 620 includes one or more characteristics 621. Theellipsis 622 represents that there may be any number of characteristicsrelated to the application 620. The one or more characteristics 621 ofthe application 620 may include (but are not limited to) the identity ofthe entity 610 and/or purpose of the application. Based on theidentified one or more characteristics 621, a scope of permission toaccess the requested data is then determined.

The container 651 and/or 673 is a secure environment that providesisolation capabilities, such that the container 651 and/or 673 may beisolated from both the entity 610 and Alice 640 (e.g., the DID owner201). The container 651 or 673 is configured to allow differentapplications provided by different entities (e.g., entity 610) to bestored and executed within the container 651 and/or 673. Alice'spersonal data 661, 662 and 663 may be used as one or more inputs of theapplication 620′ and/or 620″ stored in the container 651 and/or 673 togenerate one or more results 654, 655, 676, and 677. As such, neitherthe application data 620 is directly disclosed to Alice 640, nor isAlice's personal data directly disclosed to the entity 610. However,each of the entity 610 and Alice 640 may still receive the one or moreresults 654, 655, 676, and 677 generated by the application 620.

In some embodiments, a container may be hosted in the ID hub service650, such as the container 651. Alternatively, a container may be hostedvia an independent service or database, such as the container 673. Thecontainer 651 or 673 may store and organize different applications 620′,652 based on the entities. Alternatively, the container 651 may store ororganize the applications 620′, 652 based on the DID owners. Forexample, within the container 651, there may be multiple sub-containers,each of which is dedicated to store and execute a particular DID owner'sapplications and results.

For instance, all the applications 620′ that Alice 640 has used or wouldlike to use may be stored in Alice's container 657, and all theapplications 652 that Bob has used may be stored in Bob's container 658.The results generated by each of Alice's applications 620′ may also bestored in Alice's container 657, and the results generated by each ofBob's applications 652 may be stored in Bob's container 658. Theellipsis 653 represents that there may be any number of sub-containers,each of which is dedicated for a particular DID owner, in the container651. Even though each of the DID owners may be assigned a separatesub-container, each DID owner still may not have access to all the datastored in his/her own container. For example, even though Alice'scontainer 657 is dedicated to store and execute applications that Alice640 needs, Alice 640 still may not have direct access to her container657, such that the proprietary information contained in each application620′, 654 may be protected.

Alternatively, the container may be hosted by an independent serviceprovider. For example, the container 673 is a container hosted by anindependent service provider. Similar to the container 651, thecontainer 673 may be configured to store and execute one or moreapplications 620″, 674 from different entities (e.g., entity 610) togenerate one or more results 676, 677. The ellipsis 675 represents thatthere may be any number of applications 620″, 674 stored and/or executedwithin the container 673. The ellipsis 678 represents that there may beany number of results 676, 677 generated by the one or more applications620″, 674. Since the container 673 is independent from any ID hubservice (e.g., ID hub service 650), the container 673 may provideservice to different DID owners who use different ID hub services.

In some embodiments, the entities (e.g., entity 610) who provideapplications (e.g., application 620) to users (e.g., Alice 640) maydetermine which container service is to be used to store and execute theapplication. For example, the entity 610 may choose to use container 673as its service provider, and pre-store and/or pre-install all of itsapplications at the container 673. Since all the applications providedby the entity 610 have been stored in the container 673, when a DIDowner (e.g., Alice 640) decides to allow an application to be executedusing her personal data 661, 662 and/or 663, only Alice's personal data661, 662 and/or 663 needs to be transferred from her personal storage660 to the container 673. Also, in such embodiments, the container 673may organize the applications 620″, 674 based on the applicationproviders (e.g., entity 610), the functions (e.g., characteristics 621),etc. The results 676, 677 may also be stored with the respectiveapplication that generated the results.

For instance, the application 620″ may be an insurance quotingapplication for the entity 610. Many existing or potential customers ofthe entity 610 may have allowed the application 620″ to use theirdriving history data (e.g., Alice's driving history data 661) togenerate one or more insurance quotes. After the quotes are generated,the quotes may be stored together with the application 620″.Alternatively, a separate database may be generated to store all thequotes generated by the application 620″. Each time a quote isgenerated, the container 673 may send the generated results 676 back tothe DID owner who has provided his/her personal data. Further, thecontainer 673 may also send the generated results to the entity 610.Alternatively, or in addition, the container 673 may allow the entity toaccess the database that includes all the insurance quotes generated atany time.

In some embodiments, the DID owners (e.g., Alice 640) may determinewhich container service is to be used to store and execute theapplication. For example, Alice 640 may prefer to use the container 651hosted by the ID hub service 650. In such a case, whenever Alice 640decides to allow the application 620 to be executed using some of herpersonal data 661, 662, and/or 663, the container 651 first determineswhether the container 651 has the application 620 stored in its storageyet. If the determination is that the container 651 has not stored orinstalled the application 620 in itself yet, the application 620 needsto be transmitted to and stored at the container 651 first, before thestored application 620′ can be executed. In such embodiments, theapplications 620′, 652 may be stored and organized based on DID owners.Each DID owner may be assigned to a separate storage for storingapplications that are executed using the corresponding DID owner'spersonal data. For example, the container 651 may be a container storagethat is assigned to Alice 640, and Bob may be assigned an independentcontainer storage that is used to store and execute applications thatBob wants to execute.

For example, the entity 610 may want to provide the application 620 toAlice 640. The application 620 is configured to use some of Alice'spersonal data 661, 662, 663 as one or more inputs to generate one ormore results. The entity 610 may communicate with Alice's personalstorage 660 first to request for access to some of Alice's personal data661, 662 and/or 663. The bi-directional arrow 626 represents thecommunication between the application 620 (and/or the entity 610) andAlice's personal storage 660. Alternatively, the application 620 and/orthe entity 610 may send such a request to Alice's DID management module630. The bi-directional arrow 623 represents the communication betweenthe application 620 (and/or the entity 610) and Alice's DID managementmodule 630.

In the request, the entity 610 or the application 620 may send itscharacteristics 621 to Alice's personal storage 660. Alternatively, orin addition, the metadata of the application 620 may include one or morecharacteristics 621 of the application 620. Alice's personal storage660, the ID hub service 650, and/or Alice's DID management module 630may read the metadata of the application 620 to identify the one or morecharacteristics of the application 620. The ellipsis 622 represents thatthere may be any number of characteristics that is related to theapplication 620. Based on the identified one or more characteristics621, Alice 640, her DID management module 630 and/or her personalstorage 660 may determine a scope of permission to allow the requesteddata to be used by the application.

The one or more characteristics may include the entity 610's identity,the purpose of the application 620, and past relationships between theentity 610 and Alice 640, etc. For example, the entity 610 may be Alice640's existing insurance company, and the purpose of the application 620is to generate a renew quote for Alice 640's renewal insurance policy.Alice's DID management module 630 may also be able to retrieve theentity 610's past interaction with Alice's driving history data 661 andcommunication history between the entity 610 and Alice 640, which mayalso be deemed as one or more characteristics of the Application 620and/or the entity 610. Thus, based on the characteristics 621 of theapplication 620 including the identity of the entity 610, Alice's DIDmanagement module 630 may automatically grant the insurance company610's price quoting application 620 a permission to use the same portionof data (e.g., driving history data 661) that the insurance company 610previously has used.

As another example, the entity 610 may be Alice 640's bank, and thepurpose of the application 620 is to check Alice 640's credit anddetermine whether a new credit card may be issued and what will be themaximum credit line. Alice's DID management module 630 may determinethat the characteristics 621 of the application 620 include that theapplication 620 requires very sensitive personal information, such associal security number and date of birth, from Alice 640. Based on thesecharacteristics 621, Alice's DID management module 630 may automaticallydeny the request unless Alice 640 has previously set up in her DIDmanagement module 630 and/or her personal storage 660 to expresslypermit such an application 620 to use some of her data 661-663.

Alternatively, or in addition, Alice's DID management module 630 and/orher personal storage 660 may generate a notification to let Alice 640know that such a request from the application 620 has received and thenature of the request. The notification may be generated within Alice'sDID management module 630 (e.g., a phone app) and/or via SMS, email,and/or voice service, etc. When Alice 640 receives the notification, shemay decide whether to grant the application the permission to use therequested data and the other scope of the permission on the fly.

In some embodiments, Alice's DID management module 630 may alsoautomatically block certain request when granting a permission. Forexample, if the entity 610 is an insurance company that Alice 640currently does not do business with, and the insurance company wants tosolicit business from Alice 640, Alice's DID management module 630 mayautomatically deny such a request.

As another example, Alice 640 may set up in her DID management module630 to block all the applications except the ones she expressly grants ascope of permission. The granted permissions may be recorded in thepermission storage 631 of DID management module 630 or in the permissionstorage 667 of Alice's personal storage 660. Alice may define and enterpart or all of the scopes of permission via her DID management module630. Alice's DID management module 630 may automatically generate one ormore default permissions and store the default permissions.

The permissions entered by Alice 640 and/or the default permissionsgenerated by Alice's DID management module 630 may be partially orcompletely stored in the permission storage 631 in her DID managementmodule 630 and/or in the permission storage 667 in her personal storage660. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the permission storage 631 in Alice's DIDmanagement module 630 stores permissions 632 and 633. The ellipsis 634represents that there may be any number of permissions stored in thepermission storage 631. Similarly, the permission storage 667 in Alice'spersonal storage 660 stores permissions 668 and 669. The ellipsis 668represents that there may be any number of permissions stored in thepermission storage 667.

In addition to expressly granted permissions, Alice 640 may also have ablacklist of applications and/or entities and/or type of applicationsand/or entities that she wants to deny their access to her personal data661-663 at all time. Such information may also be stored in thepermission storage 631 and/or 667. Once one of these applicationsrequests to access Alice 640's personal data 661-663 stored in herpersonal storage 660, her DID management module 630 and/or her personalstorage 660 will automatically deny the request without further inputfrom Alice 640.

The permissions (and/or non-permissions) (e.g., one of the permissions632, 633, 668 and/or 669) may be stored in any specific data structuredepending on what information and how much information the permissionstorage is designed to store. As a simple example, the permissions 632,633, 668 and/or 669 may be stored as a table. Each entry of the tablemay include an identifier of each specific application 620, anidentifier of the associated entity 610, and the scope of thepermission. The scope of the permission may include a specific portionof the data and/or a specific type of data that is allowed to be used bythe application, what type of permission (e.g., read, write, make copy,etc.) is granted, how many times the data is allowed to be used (e.g.,once or twice, etc.), the time frame during which the data is allowed tobe used (e.g., 24 hours, one week, one month, etc.). For theapplications and/or entities that are grounded to access any data, thescope of permission would be that no data is allowed to be accessed atany time.

The permissions 632, 633, 668 and/or 669 also be one or more permissionrules that may be applicable to a type of applications or all of theapplications. For example, one of the permissions (or permission rules)may be that no permissions should be granted during weekends or after 7pm in the evening, such that Alice 640 will not receive potentiallyinterrupting notifications. Another example, Alice 640 may set apermission rule that no permission should be granted to any insurancecompany.

The permissions 632, 633, 668 and/or 669 may also be defined based onthe type of data the application has requested, the type of businessthat the entity is doing, and the field and/or purpose of theapplication. For example, Alice 640 may define that if an application(e.g., application 620) requires to access Alice 640's social securitynumber and/or date of birth, such a request will be automatically deniedunless Alice 640 has expressly defined the permission in the permissionstorage.

If an application 620 requests only certain less sensitive information,and such information cannot be readily linked to Alice 640's identity,Alice 640 may allow the DID management module 630 to grant permissionfor such an application (e.g., application 620) to use the requesteduser data. For example, the application 620 may be a survey on people'sdriving habit. The survey application 620 does not require Alice 640'sreal name, exact address or date of birth, however, the surveyapplication 620 would like to have Alice 640's zip code, age range, andsome other vague information related to Alice's driving habit. Alice 640may allow the DID management module 630 and/or her personal storage 660to automatically grant such a permission (e.g., one of the permissions632, 633, 668, 669) to this kind of applications.

Alice 640 may also set up her DID management module 630 and/or his/herpersonal storage 660 to generate a notification whenever an expresspermission cannot be found in the permission storage(s) 631 and/or 667.After Alice receives a notification, she can grant or deny the requeston the fly. The permission storage 631 in the DID management module 630and/or in the permission storage 667 in the DID owner's personal storage660 may also be configured to automatically store or backup thepermissions generated or the denied request by Alice 640 on the fly.

In some cases, the permission may be a permission to allow anapplication 620 to use a scope of personal data 661-663 multiple timesor a period of time. Once the number of times and period of time isreached, the permission is no longer an active permission. Such anexpired permission may be changed to an inactive status or be moved to aseparate table or storage area, because the expired permission will notbe used directly by the DID management module 630 and/or the personalstorage 660 to grant another application access again. However, thebacked up permission data may still be analyzed by the DID managementmodule 630 and/or the personal storage 660 to recommend or suggest Alice640 whether a permission and/or what scope of permission should begranted to an application that is similar to a previous application.

After receiving the recommended scope of permission, Alice 640 may thenindicate whether he/she accepts the recommended scope of permission orthat denies the recommended scope of permission. Alternatively, Alice640 may modify the recommended scope of permission to a different scopeof permission. The recommendations may be populated in the DIDmanagement module 630 (e.g., a mobile app), or be sent to Alice 640 viaSMS, email, voice mail, etc. Alice 640 may interact with therecommendation populated in the DID management module 630 to acceptand/or deny it. Alice 640 may also reply to an SMS or email with a short“yes” or “no” text and/or use voice command during a voice call toaccept and/or deny the recommendation. Alice 640 may also interact withthe recommendation populated in the DID management module 630 to modifythe recommended scope of permission. Simple modifications may also beentered via replying a text and/or email message, or using voicecommands to interact with a voice call.

In some embodiments, the DID management module 630 and/or the personalstorage 660 may give Alice 640 a number of recommendations that Alice640 can choose from. Thus, Alice 640 may select one of the recommendedscopes of permission by interacting with the DID management module 630,responding to a text or email message, and/or using voice command tointeract with a voice call.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, Alice 640 may allow the DID managementmodule 630 and/or personal storage 660 to compare a new application withanother application recorded in the permission storage, andautomatically permit the new application 620 that is similar to apreviously permitted application, or permit the new application 620 thatis associated with an entity 610 that is the same as that of apreviously permitted application. Alternatively, or in combination, theDID management module 630 and/or personal storage 660 may generate anotification showing Alice 640 that the application 620 is similar to apreviously permitted application and ask Alice 640 whether he/she wouldlike to allow this new application to access the similar type of datathat Alice 640 previously has granted the other application to access.

In some embodiments, at least some of the entities 610 and/or theapplications 620 may also be associated with a DID (e.g., a second DID).As such, the entity 610 and/or the application 620 may also be a DIDowner 201 described in FIGS. 2-4, and the DID of the entity 610 or theapplication 620 may be a DID 205 described in FIGS. 2-4. In such a case,the identifying the one or more characteristics 625-626 of theapplication may include identifying and/or verifying the DID of theentity 610 and/or DID of the application 620. For example, if the DID ofthe entity 610 or the DID of the application 620 can identify and/orverify that the entity 610 is a legitimate bank that Alice 640 wants toextend personal credit from, Alice's DID management module 630 may grantthe permission to the application 620 based on the DID of the entity 610and/or the DID of the application 620. The permissions 632, 633, 668and/or 669 stored in the permission storage 631 and/or 667 may includethe DID of the entity 610 and/or the DID of the application 620 that isgranted scope of permission.

After a scope of permission is determined, the scope of permission isgranted to a container (e.g., container 673 and/or 651) where theapplication 620 is stored and/or installed, or where the application 620is to be stored and/or installed. Alice's personal data 661, 662, 663within the granted scope of permission will be allowed to be accessed bythe container 673 and/or 651. In particular, Alice's personal data 661,662, 663 within the granted scope will be allowed to be used as one ormore inputs of the application 620 stored and/or installed in thecontainer 673 and/or 651. As briefly discussed above, the application620 may be pre-stored or pre-installed in a container system 673 and/or651 as the application 620″ and/or 620′. Alternatively, the application620 may be sent to the container system 673 and/or 651 after the scopeof permission is granted.

Further, the container system 673 may also be a DID owner. When Alice640 grants a scope of permission to execute the application 620″ storedin the container 673, the scope of permission may be based on thecontainer 673's DID. Also, the container 673 may store a portion of theresults 676, 677 in a storage associated with the container 673's DID.The container 673 may grant Alice 640 a permission to access the resultsgenerated using Alice's personal data 661, 662 and 663. The container673 may also grant the entity 610 a permission to access the resultsgenerated by each of the applications 620″ provided by the entity 610.

Further, in some embodiments, the results of the applications may berecorded back into Alice's personal storage 660. For example, the scopeof the permission granted may further include a write permission for thecontainer 673 and/or 651 to record the generated results back to Alice'spersonal storage. In some embodiments, Alice 630 may also want to retaincontrol of the generated one or more results 676, 654. In such a case,the container 673 or 651 may not be allowed to store the results withinitself, but send the results to Alice 640 or store the results inAlice's personal storage 660. Once the one or more results 676 arestored in Alice's personal storage 660, Alice may control whether theentity 610 or any other entity may access the stored results 676.

The following discussion now refers to a number of methods and methodacts that may be performed. Although the method acts may be disused in acertain order or illustrated in a flow chart as occurring in aparticular order, no particular ordering is required unless specificallystated, or required because an act is dependent on another act beingcompleted prior to the act being performed.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 700 for executingan application in a container within a scope of a DID owner grantedpermission. The method 700 includes receiving a request from an entityfor using data stored in a storage that is associated with a DID as oneor more input(s) of an application associated with the entity togenerate one or more result(s) (701). The entity may be the entity 610,and the application may be the application 620, the DID owner may beAlice 640, the data stored in a storage may be Alice's personal data661-663 stored in Alice's personal storage 660, and the data storage(e.g., Alice's personal storage 660) may be hosted in an ID hub service650 as illustrated in FIG. 6.

The method 700 also includes identifying one or more characteristics ofthe application (702). The one or more characteristics may be thecharacteristics 625-626 illustrated in FIG. 6. The one or morecharacteristics 621 of the application 620 may include (but not limitedto) the identity of the entity 610, the nature of the application 620,what type of information is requested by the application 620, and whattype of results will be generated by the application 620.

Next, based on the identified one or more characteristics (e.g.,characteristics 621), a scope of permission (e.g., permissions 632-633an/or 668-669) to access the requested data (e.g., personal data661-663) is determined (703).

Then, the determined scope of permission is granted to a container wherethe application 620 is stored or is to be stored (704). For example, insome embodiments, the entity 610 may have chosen to use a particularcontainer system (e.g., container 673), and the application 620 isalready pre-stored or pre-installed in the chosen container system 673.In such a case, since the application 620 has been already stored at thecontainer 673, once the permission from Alice 640 is granted, theapplication 620 is ready to be executed. In some embodiments, theapplication 620 may not have been stored at any container, or Alice 640has a preferred container 651 which does not have the application 620stored and/or installed yet. In such a case, the container 651 may firstdetermine that the application 620 has not been stored in its storage.Thereafter, the container 651 may request for a permission from theentity 610 to store or install the application 620. The entity 610 maythen grant the container 651 a permission to store the application 620.After the permission to copy and store the application 620 is granted,the container 651 will then store or install the application 620 in itsstorage.

After the application 620 is stored in the container 651, and thecontainer 651 has been granted a permission to access some Alice'spersonal data 661,662, 663, the application (e.g., application 620′,620″) in a container 651, 673 is then executed to generate one or moreresults (705). The generated one or more results are then sent to theDID owner (e.g. Alice 640) the container 651, 673, and received by theDID owner (e.g., Alice 640) (706) via the DID owner's management module(e.g., Alice's DID management module 630), personal storage (e.g.,Alice's personal storage 660), and/or other communication meansincluding (but not limited to) SMS, email, voice mail, etc.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 800 for executingan application in a container within a scope of a DID owner grantedpermission, where each of the entity 610 and/or the application 620 isalso associated with a DID (i.e., a second DID and/or a third DID), andthe DID owner is the owner of a first DID. The entity may correspond tothe entity 610, the application may correspond to the application 620,and the DID owner of the first DID may correspond to Alice 640, asillustrated in FIG. 6. The entity 610 may be the second DID owner thatis associated with a second DID. Alternatively, or in addition, theapplication 620 may be a third DID owner that is associated with a thirdDID. Each of the entity 610 and the second DID may respectively be a DIDowner 201 and a DID 205 described in FIGS. 2-4. Each of the application620 and the third DID may also respectively be a DID owner 201 and a DID205 described in FIGS. 2-4.

The method 800 includes receiving a request associated with a second DIDand/or a third DID for using data stored in a storage that is associatedwith a first DID as one or more input(s) of an application associatedwith the entity to generate one or more results (801). The data storedin a storage that is associated with a first DID may correspond toAlice's personal data 661-663 stored in Alice's personal storage 660.The second DID may be associated with the entity 610, and the third DIDmay be associated with the application 620.

The method 800 also includes identifying (802) and verifying (803) thesecond and/or the third DID of the entity (e.g., entity 610) and/or theapplication (e.g., application 620). For example, the request may besigned by the second DID's private key, and the signed request may beverified by using the second DID's public key. Once the second DID isverified, the identity of the entity (e.g., entity 610) or theapplication (e.g., application 620) will be known. For example, theapplication 620 may be an application for filing a tax return. Theentity 610 may be the federal government. The request for data from theapplication 620 may be signed by the private key of the federalgovernment 610's DID. The Alice DID management module 630 may verify theidentity of the second DID using the public key of the federalgovernment 610. Thus, based on the DID of the federal government 610,the identity of the entity 610 may be identified and verified as thefederal government.

Next, based on the verified second and/or third DID, a scope ofpermission (e.g., permission 631, 632, 668 or 669) may be determined(804). For example, After the entity 610's (e.g., the federalgovernment) identity is verified via the DID verification process,Alice's DID management module 630 may determine the scope of thepermission that is to be granted to the federal government 610. In thiscase, there may be rules and laws that require each individual todisclose to the federal government entities certain information relatedto his/her income. There may also be rules and laws that prohibitgovernment entities from inquiry excessive information from eachindividual. These rules and laws may be accessed by and/or be part ofthe DID management module 630, the Alice's personal storage 660, and/orthe ID hub service 650, such that Alice's DID management module 630and/or the Alice's personal storage 660 may be able to automaticallyapply such rules to the request without Alice 640's further input.Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 6, in the permission storage 631and/or 667, there may also be different personal permissions 632, 633,668 and/or 669 set by Alice 640 previously. In such a case, the DIDmanagement module 630 and/or the Alice's personal storage 660 may alsoanalyze whether the government rules and laws are consistent withAlice's permission(s) 632, 633, 668 and/or 669.

In some embodiments, the DID management module 630 and/or Alice'spersonal storage 660 may be configured to allow the government rules tooverwrite the Alice's personal permissions 632-633 and/or 668-669. Insome embodiments, the DID management module 630 and/or Alice's personalstorage 660 may be configured to allow Alice's personal permissions632-633 and/or 668-669 to overwrite the government rules. In someembodiments, the DID management module 630 and/or Alice's personalstorage 660 may generate a notification or alert to the DID owner and/orthe entity (e.g., government entity) to let one or both of them knowthat a conflict exists.

Additionally, as described above in FIG. 6, in some embodiments, thesystem may be configured to require Alice 640 to expressly set up eachrule for his/her DID management module and/or her personal storage todetermine the scope of permission. In such a case, the DID managementmodule 630 and/or the personal storage 660 may not be granted anydiscrepancy to provide a recommendation or automatically grantpermission to any application. The scope of permission may include aportion of data that is allowed to be accessed by the application, andwhether the permission is read permission, write permission, copypermission, etc. The scope of permission may be stored in the permissionstorage 631 in the DID management module 630 and/or the permissionstorage 667 in Alice's personal storage 660.

After the scope of permission is determined, the determined scope ofpermission is then granted to a container (e.g., container 673, 651)where the application 620 is installed or to be installed (805). In someembodiments, the container 651, 673 may also be a DID owner. Thedetermined scope of permission is granted to the DID that is associatedto the container 651, 673. The scope of permission may be limited by theportion of data that is allowed to be accessed by the container, thetime period in which the portion of data is allowed to be accessed,and/or how many times the portion of data is allowed to be accessed.

Still using the tax return application as an example, the scope ofpermission to the federal government 610's tax return application 620may include all the income information related to Alice 640. The scopeof permission may also include that Alice 640's income information canonly be accessed by the tax return application 620 between March 1^(st)and April 15^(th). Once the scope of permission is determined, theapplication (e.g., application 620) may first be installed in thecontainer 651. The container 651 is then granted the scope of permissionto use the requested data from Alice's personal storage 660 to executethe application 620′ installed in the container 651. Alternatively, theAlice's personal storage 660 may send the requested data to Alice's DIDmanagement module 630, and Alice's DID management module 630 may thenpass the data to the container 651.

Finally, once the scope of permission is granted to the container 651,673, the application (e.g., application 620′, 620″) may be executed in acontainer 651, 673 to generate one or more results (806) and send theresults to Alice 640 (807). The one or more results may be received byAlice's management module 630 (e.g., the DID owner's mobile app).Alternatively, or in combination, the one or more results may bereceived by Alice's personal storage 660, and/or via SMS, email, voicemail, etc. If Alice 640 has granted the container 651 and/or 673 somewrite permission to record the results in Alice's personal storage 660,the container 651 and/or 673 may record such results in Alice's storage660 directly.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 900 for determininga scope of permission to access the requested data, which may correspondto an embodiment of step 703 of method 700 and/or step 804 of method800. The method 900 includes generating a notification to the DID owner(e.g., Alice 640) in response to the receiving of the request (901). Themethod 900 may also include receiving a user indication (e.g., Alice640's input) that indicates a scope of permission that is to be granted(902). The method 900 may then determine the scope of permission that isconsistent with the user indication (e.g., Alice's input) (903). In someembodiments, the DID owner's input (e.g., Alice 640's input) may beentered when the request from the application (e.g., application 620)was received, and based on the DID owner's input (e.g., Alice 640'sinput), the determination step (903) may be performed on the fly.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6, when Alice's DID managementmodule 630 receives a request from an application 620 directly and/orfrom Alice's personal storage 660 indirectly, the DID management module630 may generate a notification (e.g., a notification on Alice 640'smobile device). Alternatively, or in combination, Alice's personalstorage 660 may receive the request from the application 620 andgenerate a notification to Alice 640 directly. Alice's personal storage660 may trigger Alice's DID management module 630 to generate anotification, and/or send an SMS, email and/or voice message to Alice640 directly. After Alice 640 receives the notification, she may inputinformation in her DID management module 630, or reply the SMS or emailfrom Alice's personal storage 660 to indicate a scope of permission thatis to be granted.

After Alice's DID management module 630 and/or her personal storage 660receives her indication of the scope of permission, her DID managementmodule 630 and/or her personal storage 660 may then determine the scopeof permission that is consistent with Alice 640's indication. In someembodiments, her DID management module 630 and/or her personal storage660 may merely adopt Alice 640's indicated scope of permission. In someembodiments, her DID management module 630 and/or her personal storage660 may be more protective to her data and further limit the scope ofpermission that Alice 640 has indicated to grant. For example, there maybe rules regulating how much information governments may inquire from acitizen. If the entity 620 is a federal government, and Alice 640indicates that she would like to grant the federal government 620 toaccess a large scope of her personal data 661-663, Alice's DIDmanagement module 630, or Alice's personal storage 660 may further limitthe scope of data granted by Alice 640 based on relevant rules and laws.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 1000 for receivingthe one or more result(s) from the application (e.g., application 620),which may correspond to an embodiment of step 706 of method 700 and/orstep 807 of method 800. The method 1000 includes receiving the one ormore result(s) from the container (1001). The method 1000 also includesgenerating a notification to the DID owner (e.g., Alice 640), based onthe received one or more result(s) (1002). The method 1000 may furtherinclude receiving a user indication (e.g., Alice 640's indication)related to the one or more result(s) (1003). Based on the userindication (e.g., Alice 640's indication), determine whether the one ormore results are to be send to the entity (1004).

For example, the application 620 may be an application associated with abank (e.g., entity 610) for extending credit card limit of Alice. Alice640 has granted the scope of her personal data 661-663 to the container651 or 673 to execute the application 620′ or 620″. The result of theapplication 620′ or 620″ may include Alice's credit score and a decisionwhether an extension of credit should be approved. If Alice 640's creditscore is not high enough and the extension of her credit has beendenied, Alice 640 may not want to send the results to the entity 610(i.e., bank). If her credit score is high enough, and an extension ofcredit has been approved, Alice may want to send the results to thebank, so that she can receive a credit extension. Such an embodimentwill further protect DID owner's personal data from the applicationproviders, because the principles described herein are not only capableof protecting DID owner's personal data when they are used as anapplication's input, but also DID owner's personal data when they aregenerated as the application's output.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 1100 for storingand executing an application as an intermediary using a DID owner'spersonal data and providing the results to the application providerand/or the DID owner. The method 1100 may be implemented in anindependent container service (e.g., the container 673 illustrated inFIG. 6) and/or be implemented in a container associated with an ID hubservice (e.g., the container 651 illustrated in FIG. 6).

The container 651 or 673 is isolated from both of the applicationprovider (e.g., the entity 610) and the DID owner (e.g., Alice 640),such that the data provided by one party is secured from the otherparty. For example, Alice 640 would not have direct access to theapplication 620, and the entity 610 would not have direct access toAlice's personal data 661, 662, 663, even though Alice 640 and/or theentity 610 may receive the one or more results generated from theapplication 620 using some of Alice's personal data 661, 662, 663.

The method 1100 includes receiving data from a data storage that isassociated with an owner of a DID (1101). The data being received isbased on a scope of permission granted by the owner of the DID, and thescope of permission allows an application associated with an entity touse the received data as an input to the application. For example, thecontainer 651 or 673 may receive a portion of Alice's personal data 661,662, 663, and Alice 640 may grant the container 651 or 673 a permissionto use the portion of her data as one or more inputs to the application620.

The container 651 or 673 may have received the application 620 datapreviously (1102). Alternatively, the container 651 or 673 may receivethe application 620 data after Alice 640 sends the portion of herpersonal data 661, 662, 663 (1102). For example, the container 673 maybe the entity 610's dedicated service provider, so that the container673 maintains the entity 610's application 620 in its storage at alltime. Alternatively, the container 651 may not maintain entity 610'sapplication 620, and may have not stored the application 620 in itsstorage yet. In such a situation, after the container 651 receives thedata from Alice's personal storage 660, the container 651 will thenreceive the application 620 data from the entity 610.

Once the container 651 or 673 receives both the data from Alice 640 andthe application 620 from the entity, the container 651 or 673 causes anexecution of the application 620 using the received data (1103). Theapplication 620′, 620″ stored at the container 651, 673 will be executedusing the received Alice's personal data 661, 662, 663 as one or moreinputs to generate one or more results.

The container 651 or 673 then provides the one or more results to atleast one of the entity (e.g., the entity 610) and the owner of the DID(e.g., Alice 640). In some embodiments, the results may only be sent tothe entity 610. For example, the application may be some anonymoussurvey for the entity 610, and the results would only be useful to theentity 610 in some statistics analysis. In such a case, the results mayonly be sent to the entity 610, not Alice 640.

In some other embodiments, the results may only be sent to the DID owner(e.g., Alice 640). For example, the application may use Alice 640'spersonal financial data to provide personal financial advice to Alice640. The advisory results may be very personal to Alice 640, and Alice640 would like to keep the results to herself. In such a case, theresults may only be sent to Alice 640, not the entity 610, unless Alice640 grants the entity 610 a permission to access the results.

In some other embodiments, the results may be sent to both the entity(e.g., the entity 610) and the owner of the DID (e.g., Alice 640). Forexample, the results of the application may be important to both theentity 610 and Alice 640, such as a tax return application. The taxreturn application may be provided by a government entity to allow Aliceto input her income data to generate the amount of tax owed or the taxcredit amount. Such results are important to both Alice 640 and thegovernment entity 610, because if Alice owes tax, she must pay thegovernment entity; and if Alice should receive tax credit, thegovernment entity must refund Alice money back.

Whether the entity 610 or Alice 640 should receive the results from thecontainer 651 or 673 may be determined at the time when the scope ofdata permission is determined, or be inherent to the characteristics ofthe application 610. Additionally, the determination may be based onAlice 640's personal input, or based on the negotiations between theentity 610 and Alice 640. For example, the entity 610 may provide moreresults to Alice 640 or allow Alice 640 to use a premium version of theapplication 620, if Alice 640 allows the entity 610 to have access tothe results 610. As another example, the entity 610 may provide a freeapplication 620 to Alice 640, if Alice 640 allows the entity 610 to haveaccess to the results, and the entity 610 may charge a fee, if Alice 640prefers not to allow the entity 610 to have access to the results.

Furthermore, even though the descriptions herein are mostly focused onone entity and one DID owner, more than two parties may be involved. Insome embodiments, the application 610 may use multiple DID owner'spersonal data to generate results. For example, application 610 may be amedical diagnosis application that may receive both Alice 640's medicalhistory and her parents' medical history to generate a more accuratediagnosis result. In such a case, the container 651, 673 should beisolated from all the related parties, including Alice 640, Alice'sparents (other DID owners), and the entity 610. The diagnosis resultgenerated may only be sent to Alice 640, not her parents or the entitywithout Alice 640's consent.

For the processes and methods disclosed herein, the operations performedin the processes and methods may be implemented in differing order.Furthermore, the outlined operations are only provided as examples, ansome of the operations may be optional, combined into fewer steps andoperations, supplemented with further operations, or expanded intoadditional operations without detracting from the essence of thedisclosed embodiments.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or characteristics. The described embodimentsare to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and notrestrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changeswhich come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims areto be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computing system comprising: one or moreprocessors; and one or more computer-readable hardware storage deviceshaving thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured suchthat, when executed by the one or more processors, configure thecomputing system to: provide a decentralized storage service that uses adistributed ledger to verify or authorize users who are owners ofdecentralized identifiers (DIDs); receive a request from a deviceassociated with an entity for using data stored in a data storage thatis associated with an owner of a first DID as one or more input(s) of anapplication associated with the entity to generate one or moreresult(s), the entity being an owner of a second DID; obtain a DIDdocument associated with the second DID based on data recorded on thedistributed ledger, the DID document recording information related tothe second DID and one or more characteristics of the applicationassociated with the entity; verify an identity of the entity based onthe DID document; based on the one or more characteristics associatedwith the entity and the identity of the entity, determine a scope ofpermission to access the requested data that is to be used by theapplication; and grant the scope of permission to a container where theapplication is stored or is to be stored, the container being isolatedfrom both the device associated with the entity and the data storage ofthe owner of the first DID, the container being configured to executethe application to generate one or more results based on the requesteddata received by the container.
 2. The computing system of claim 1,wherein the computing system is further caused to receive the one ormore results from the container.
 3. The computing system of claim 1,wherein the entity is associated with a second DID that is differentthan the first DID, and wherein the identifying one or morecharacteristics of the application includes identifying the second DIDof the entity.
 4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein theapplication is associated with a third DID that is different than thefirst DID, and wherein the identifying characteristics of theapplication includes identifying the third DID of the application. 5.The computing system of claim 1, wherein container is associated with afourth DID that is different than the first DID, and wherein thegranting the scope of permission to the application includes grantingthe scope of permission to the fourth DID to use the data within thegranted scope of permission as one or more input of the application togenerate the one or more results.
 6. The computing system of claim 1,wherein the computing system is further caused to: in response to therequest from the application, generate a notification to the owner ofthe first DID that the request has been received.
 7. The computingsystem of claim 6, wherein the notification includes a recommended scopeof permission.
 8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the computingsystem is further caused to: receive an indication from the owner of thefirst DID that accepts the recommended scope of permission or thatdenies the recommended scope of permission.
 9. The computing system ofclaim 7, wherein the computing system is further caused to: receive anindication from the owner of the first DID that modifies the recommendedscope of permission to a different scope of permission determined by theowner of the first DID.
 10. The computing system of claim 1, wherein thecomputing system is further caused to: generate a notification after thereceiving the one or more result(s) from the application stored andexecuted in the container.
 11. The computing system of claim 1, whereinthe computing system is further caused to: in response to granting thepermission to the container, accessing the requested data from the datastorage; and providing the requested data to the container.
 12. Thecomputing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is furthercaused to: receive a notification from the data storage indicating thatthe data storage has provided the requested data to the container. 13.The computing system of claim 1, further caused to: determine whetherthe application is stored in the container; in response to adetermination that the application is not stored in the container,receive the application from the device associated with the entity; andstore the received application in the container.
 14. A method forexecuting an application within a scope of user-granted permission, themethod comprising: providing a decentralized storage service that uses adistributed ledger to verify or authorize users who are owners ofdecentralized identifiers (DIDs); receiving a request from a deviceassociated with an entity for using data stored in a data storage thatis associated with an owner of a first DID as one or more input(s) of anapplication associated with the entity to generate one or moreresult(s), the entity being an owner of a second DID; obtaining a DIDdocument associated with the second DID based on data recorded on thedistributed ledger, the DID document recording information related tothe second DID and one or more characteristics of the applicationassociated with the entity; verify an identity of the entity based onthe DID document; based on the one or more characteristics associatedwith the entity and the identity of the entity, determining a scope ofpermission to access the requested data that is to be used by theapplication; and granting the scope of permission to a container wherethe application is stored or is to be stored, the container beingisolated from both the device associated with the entity and the datastorage of the owner of the first DID, the container being configured toexecute the application to generate one or more results based on therequested data received by the container.
 15. The method of claim 14,further comprising: receiving the one or more result(s) from thecontainer.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the entity is associatedwith a second DID that is different than the first DID, and wherein theidentifying one or more characteristics of the application includesidentifying the second DID of the entity.
 17. The method of claim 14,wherein the application is associated with a third DID that is differentthan the first DID, and wherein the identifying characteristics of theapplication includes identifying the third DID of the application. 18.The method of claim 14, wherein the container is associated with afourth DID that is different than the first DID, and wherein theidentifying characteristics of the application includes identifying thefourth DID of the application.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein themethod further comprises: determining whether the application is storedin the container; in response to a determination that the application isnot stored in the container, causing the entity to send the applicationto the container.
 20. A computing program product comprising one or morehardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executableinstructions that are structured such that, when executed by one or moreprocessors of a computing system, configure the computing system toperform at least: provide a decentralized storage service that uses adistributed ledger to verify or authorize users who are owners ofdecentralized identifier (DIDs); receive a request from a deviceassociated with an entity for using data stored in a data storage thatis associated with an owner of a first DID as one or more input(s) of anapplication associated with the entity to generate one or moreresult(s), the entity being an owner of a second DID; obtain a DIDdocument associated with the second DID based on data recorded on thedistributed ledger, the DID document recording information related tothe second DID and one or more characteristics of the applicationassociated with the entity; verify an identity of the entity based onthe DID document; based on the one or more characteristics associatedwith the entity and the identity of the entity, determine a scope ofpermission to access the requested data that is to be used by theapplication; and grant the scope of permission to a container where theapplication is stored or is to be stored, the container being isolatedfrom both the device associated with the entity and the data storage ofthe owner of the first DID, the container being configured to executethe application to generate one or more results based on the requesteddata received by the container.